You Ignorant Sluts

We’re still hanging around in first place, thanks to a homer binge during the last couple of weeks. Last night both Cliff Floyd and Milton Bradley hit numbers 9 and 10, to move us into the home run lead. I can't remember in 12 years in BABI ever having the home run lead.

More interesting, I looked at the projected ending standings in Toys, and they are now projecting us to finish first. I’ve never thought much of their projections, but I guess I could be wrong. The Busch Leaguers are now projected to finish third, with a big jump in their points. For the moment, though, their starting pitching has them languishing in 9th, up 5.5 points this week to 43.5. The most interesting stat: 9 wins. Dontrelle has 7. Chris Hammond has 4.

There are 7 teams over 56 points. The trading season hasn’t really begun, as we have yet to see our first dump deal. Having lots of teams in the hunt is the best cure for dump deals as there is more competition for fewer players. So the dumpers should be careful to get maximum value in their trades, which means they must make a point of taking their time and shopping at all of the stores, particularly when they are selling steals and saves.

Early in the life of this blog I wrote about the great pitching staff of the Bums, which has really soured. This season they have a grand total of 7 pitching points. Schmidt and Wood are on the DL, Penny just got back, so nothing is new in that regard for the Bums. Jake Peavy is still lights out.

But Vicente Padilla? I was most stunned at the auction when Willy Taveras went for $19, though now that I’ve seen him the past two days I realize what a bargain that is. I thought the most outrageous purchase, though, was Vicente Padilla at $10. He was on the DL, possibly never to pitch again. Unfortunately for the Bums, he has. ERA: 9.74. We didn’t want him at any price, but a buck, maybe two – I get it, particularly with the early FAAB allowing us to fix mistakes. But when the Bums said $8, someone actually said $9? And were they disappointed when Doug said $10? Or were they just playing a nuclear version of chicken? Whoever said $9 on Padilla, stand up and explain yourself!

And sorry, Doug, to keep blasting you, but why would anyone want Paul Wilson, a mediocre inning eater in one of the hittingest parks in baseball? When someone bailed you out by saying $3, my computer flashed the message “Danger, Will Robinson”, but you said $4 anyway. Let me wrap this thought up by complimenting you on the best starting pitching staff I’ve ever seen in BABI – last year.

The Old Rips were languishing for a while in last place, but have suddenly recovered to 47 points despite the injuries to Benitez and now Scott Rolen. Mark is leading the league handily in transactions, and has already spent $103 of his FAAB budget. I really like early FAAB, because at least he’s trying to improve his team. And I just noticed…he’s got Ray Sadler, and so he got that homer Sadler hit off Lowry. Good for him.

There is a rumor that Larry has moved Kolb to Hobo, though I’ve seen no notice of a trade posted. When I was logged onto Larry.Net last Tuesday, the first call came at 10:57 to “sort of” pitch Kolb to us. Hey, we’re interested. But how can you call a guy for a trade at 10:57, and then throw out names like Floyd and Bradley? I’m just teasing Larry, because I think he expected to do that deal with Hobo last week, and was surprised when at the last second before the week’s deadline it didn’t happen. I did enjoy hearing from him, though, because Larry is one of the funniest guys in the Universe, even if he’s a little wishy-washy in his political opinions. Those of you not privy to the war between Larry and the Colonel are missing a debate reminiscent of the ones on Saturday Night Live in which Dan Ackroyd would start out “Jane, you ignorant slut.”

We have 4 pitchers starting today, and it could get ugly. Tomko goes up against Clemens. Pedro goes up against Mulder. Hampton goes up against Odalis Perez. And Webb pitches in Colorado. It's like sitting on a razor blade.